


Customer Satisfaction

by Metal_Chocobo



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Restaurants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:48:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23255704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metal_Chocobo/pseuds/Metal_Chocobo
Summary: Eventually Karai lost her patience watching this poor girl being stood up at her counter and decided to do something about it. Five minutes later she set a fresh plate of steaming pizza gyoza down in front of April.
Relationships: Karai/April O'Neil (TMNT)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Customer Satisfaction

“Your redhead’s back,” Shinigami sang.

“She’s not my redhead,” Karai snarled, but she snatched the offered menus from her hands. Pausing only to grab a pitcher of water Karai made a beeline to the newly arrived customer. She knew her name—of course she knew April’s name when the five goons she usually hung out with shouted it across the restaurant on a regular basis—but Karai was already overly familiar with her without using names. She didn’t want to give Shinigami the satisfaction of hearing her say it.

“Hey,” April said with a slight smile as Karai dropped the menu on her plate.

“Welcome to Murakami’s, yada yada yada,” Karai said as she filled her water glass. “You eat here enough you already know the drill. Are you dining alone today or expecting company?” Since she had seated herself at the counter instead of a booth that was the only question Karai had.

“Umm… yes,” she said.

“Then would you rather take a booth? Your crowd usually fills up the entire counter space.” They also tended to cause a chaotic mess and disturb the other customers, which was why Karai liked to contain them in as small of an area as possible.

She flushed, clearly understanding the meaning behind Karai’s words. Shaking her head she said, “No, I’m just meeting one person.”

That was when Karai actually took a good look at her. Clothes were pretty typical, but clearly she had put in a little more effort into coordination. April also wore lipstick with a hint of mascara around her eyes, which was atypical as she usually didn’t bother. She was dressed for a date.

Karai felt a wave of irritation and immediately squashed it. April could date whomever she wanted. It was none of her business. Still, she wondered which of the boys had finally worked up the courage to ask her out. Maybe multiple boys asked her out and clearly she only agreed to one.

“I see,” Karai said. She set a menu beside her to compliment the one she had already set down. “Well, let me know if you want to order anything before your date arrives and I’ll check back later.”

“Cool. Thanks.”

Karai didn’t respond. It wasn’t like her behavior actually affected her tips, though April tended to tip better than her friends, and there wasn’t anything more to say. So what if she was a little more forceful bussing tables than usual? The tables got cleared and cleaned and she didn’t ignore any of her customers. Not even April, who seemed intent on focusing on her menu—which she had to have memorized ages ago—like it held the secret to eternal youth. Karai thought it more likely that she simply didn’t want to admit her date hadn’t arrived yet.

That belief seemed more likely to be the correct one as the afternoon dragged on without any other rambunctious teens appearing. From the crumpled napkins and the slumped shoulders Karai had a feeling April was feeling fairly frustrated about being stuck on her own for forty minutes. If this guy had any sense he’d either show up within the next couple of minutes with a dozen roses or else flee for Alaska. April was a sight to behold when she lost her temper and Karai still got a little giddy when she reminisced on the one time she saw her unleash her fury on her friends.

Eventually Karai lost her patience watching this poor girl being stood up at her counter and decided to do something about it. Five minutes later she set a fresh plate of steaming pizza gyoza down in front of April.

“I didn’t order anything,” April said, glancing back and forth between the food and Karai.

“No, but you always order pizza gyoza and it’s been an hour since you sat down. I thought I’d put you out of your misery.”

“What if I didn’t want to order pizza gyoza?”

“Then I’ll take them back and eat them on my break.” Karai shrugged and then smirked. “Food’s only dead when it’s put in front of a customer to other customers. I could always still eat it if you don’t.”

“No,” April said, picking up the plate and pulling it closer. “Thank you, I’ll eat it.”

“Thought so.”

Karai smirked as she walked back to the hostess station. Shinigami hip checked Karai lightly when she arrived then jerked her head toward April, who had already tucked into the pizza gyoza.

“That was smooth,” Shinigami said.

“Oh get lost, Shini, all I was doing was my job,” Karai grumbled.

“Hey, it’s almost time for your break. I can watch your tables if you want to take it with your date.”

“You’d have to watch my tables in any case and she’s not my date so shut up,” Karai hissed. They weren’t being loud, but she wasn’t sure there was enough ambient noise to mask their conversation. “She was supposed to meet someone else.”

“Well, that smuck didn’t show up and to the victor goes the spoils.”

“I didn’t win anything, Shini, I just brought her an appetizer.” Karai glanced down at her order slips and idly decided not to tally up any of the totals just yet. “As cliché as it sounds, she’s not a prize to be won.”

“I know that,” Shinigami laughed, “but she’s alone and she’s sad and you have a big gay crush. Go eat with her. What’s the worst that could happen? She’s going to keep coming with her friends even if she turns you down—they like Murakami’s cooking way too much to stop.”

“Gee, that’s exactly what I want to hear.”

“Just helping you out, sis.”

Karai rolled her eyes, but she took Shinigami up on her offer. Soon she was back at the counter and set a bowl of soup down at the seat next to April.

“I didn’t order this either,” April said, smiling. She still had a gyoza or two left.

“Good. Because this isn’t for you,” Karai said, sliding onto the barstool. She sunk a spoon into the soup and then brought it to her lips. “It’s mine.”

“Oh I see. What if I was ready to order now?”

“Too bad. I’m on break. If you’re lucky you might get Shini to get you something, but odds are good she’d bring you something else entirely.”

“I’m good.”

“That’s what I thought,” Karai smirked. She ate more of her soup as April finished off her pizza gyoza. Once she was done April propped her head up on an elbow and watched Karai.

“You know you don't have to be nice to me just because I got stood up.”

“Who says I’m being nice? I’m just having my break. Which dingus were you even supposed to meet?”

“Casey.”

“The one missing his front teeth?” Karai snickered when April nodded. “I feel sorry for you, Red. You know the only thing he’s remotely reliable about is hockey. Do you really like him? Because otherwise I don’t see why you’d bother with someone who won’t put in the bare minimum and actually show up.”

“He can be sweet to me. At times.”

“You mean when he isn’t intentionally annoying you?”

April made a face, but then nodded. Karai laughed. 

“Far be it from me to tell you who to date, when my father tries that it makes me do the opposite thing, however in my experience it’s far better to date someone you get along with than someone you can barely stand.” Karai shrugged and slurped down the last of her soup. “But hey, if you’re into the whole hate-mance thing I can dig it.”

“I’m not really,” April admitted. “I just wanted to get Casey and Donnie to stop fighting about who should date me by picking one.”

“Dude, that’s a terrible reason to date someone. Dump them both and date someone you actually want to date.”

“Oh yeah, like there’s someone I’d really want to date who also wants to date me,” April laughed ruefully.

“Well, I can’t speak to the first part, but I can think of at least one other person who’d want to date you,” Karai said. 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

There was a silence as they appraised each other. Then April shifted into a more alert position. Karai thought that meant she might have figured out what she was trying to say without actually saying it.

“You know what, you’re right, Karai. I’m going to take your advice.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I’m done with Casey, romantically speaking. If he can’t bother to show up then I won’t bother with him,” April said. “In fact, that’s going to be my new standard. If you can’t show up and do the basic work expected of you then you’re not worth my time.”

“Great. I’m glad you’ve found some self actualization or whatever,” Karai said. She got off her barstool and grabbed their empty dishes. “My break’s over, so I’m going to buss these. Let me know if you want anything else.”

When Karai returned to the floor April was gone. In her place was a receipt with some cash on top of it. She must have asked Shinigami for the check while Karai was in back. Picking it up she realized that there was enough there for a 100% tip—which to be fair wasn’t that terribly much considering her entire order was a single appetizer. More importantly though, April had written her phone number at the bottom of the receipt along with the message, ‘put in the effort!’ 

Karai smirked and carefully stuck the paper in her pocket. If that’s what April wanted, then she was more than ready to make an effort.


End file.
